From next (1988), "the message of thelma sayles" Summary

This poem addresses a girl. The speaker is ostensibly "thelma sayles," which is the maiden name of the poet. However, the context of the poem seems to be the poet's mother. Whoever the speaker is, it is a woman whose husband left her early in life. She hoped to have another man come into her life, waiting twenty years, but no one came. The second stanza addresses epileptic fits, which comes as a surprise to the speaker. The first fit is so strong that the bed breaks and the sufferer awakes bloody and with a swollen tongue. She asks herself if this was a religious experience. The third verse says that eventually the fits kill the speaker. From the other side, from the grave, the speaker tells...